by Hla Min
Updated : June 2025
Video Broadcast
Types of Calendar
- Solar Calendar
- Lunar Calendar
- Luni-solar Calendar
- Religious Calendar
- Civil Calendar
- Fiscal Calendar
- Academic Calendar
Burmese Calendar
I wrote an article on the Burmese Calendar for the BAPS Newsletter.
January
- First month of the Gregorian Calendar
- Named after Janus, two-faced God (symbolic to bid farewell to the old year and usher in the new year)
- Jan 1 : New Year’s Day
- Jan 4 : Independence Day in Myanmar
- Martin Luther King’s Day in US
- Sometimes : Lunar New Year
February
- Second month of the Gregorian Calendar
- Has 28 days in a Common Year and 29 days in a Leap Year
Burma/Myanmar
February 12
Pyidaungsu Nay (ပြည်ထောင်စုနေ့ Union Day) is a public holiday in the Union of Burma. It commemorates the signing of the Pinlong Sar Choke (ပင်လုံစာချုပ် Panglong Agreement) on February 12, 1947.
February 13
Bogyoke Aung San was born on February 13, 1915. He was named Htain Lin. He later changed the name to rhyme with that of Aung Than (his elder brother). Arzani U Ba Win is their eldest brother.
Centennial celebrations for Bogyoke were held in 2015.
February 13 is also as Khalay Myar Nay (ခလေးများနေ့ Children’s Day).
Tabodwe Festival (Sometimes)
The Full Moon of Tabodwe တပို့တွဲ often falls in February. Two celebrations are held.
- Htamane Pwe (ထမနဲပွဲ Sticky Rice Festival)
- Ovada Partimauk Day (ဩဝါဒပါမောက် Exhortation)
USA
February 14
Valentine’s Day (Chit Thu Myar Nay ချစ်သူများနေ့) is not a public holiday, but many people send greeting cards and presents.
Presidents’ Day
In the early days, there were two holidays. One to celebrate George Washington’s birthday and another to celebrate Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.
Later a single holiday in February to honor all US Presidents was proposed.
Some states continue to celebrate the birthdays of Washington and Lincoln.
Canada
“Family Day” (holiday) is observed on the 2nd Monday of February in Ontario.
Family Day is observed on the 3rd Monday of February in British Columbia.
Lunar New Year
Some countries (e.g China and Vietnam) observe the Lunar Year.
The Lunar New Year occurs at the end of January or the beginning of February. The date is not fixed in the Gregorian Calendar.
It fell in February in 2018 and 2019.
Days
February is the shortest month in the year with 28 days in a Common Year and 29 days in a Leap Year.
- A common year has 365 days, while a Solar year has 365.2422 days.
- A year which is not a Century year is a Leap Year if it is divisible by 4. The discrepancy of .9688 days is rounded up to a day.
- A year which is a Century year is a Leap Year if it is divisible by 400. This ensures that there are 97 leap years in four centuries.
February supposedly had 30 days, but one day each was transferred to July (honoring Julius Caesar) and August (honoring Augustus Caesar) to have 31 days in those months (worthy of Roman Emperors). February was left with 28 days.
Ripley’s “Believe it or not” illustrated a grave stone which had February 30.
March
- First month of the old Roman Calendar
- Third month of the Gregorian Calendar
- Mar 2 : Peasant’s Day တောင်သူလယ်သမားနေ့ was moved from Jan 1 in order to celebrate the Coup D’eat
- Phone Maw Day
- Burma’s Human Rights Day (celebrated by Berkeley)
- Mar 27 : Resistance Day was renamed as Armed Forces Day
- First Day of Spring : Persian New Year
April
- Second month of the old Roman Calendar
- Fourth month of the Gregorian Calendar
- Thingyan : Three or four days of Water Festival
- Myanmar New Year
- The deadline for filing taxes in the USA is around mid-April
May
- Third month of the old Roman Calendar
- Fifth month of the Gregorian Calendar
- May 1 : May Day in some countries
- May 5 : Cinco de Mayo
- Mother’s Day in the US
June
- Fourth month of the old Roman Calendar
- Sixth month of the Gregorian Calendar
- Jun 6 : D Day
- Jun 6 : Ah Loke Thamar Ah Yay Ah Khinn အလုပ်သမားအရေးအခင်း
- Father’s Day in the US
July
- Fifth month of the old Roman calendar
Had 30 days - Renamed July in honor of Emperor Julius Caesar and was given an extra day
- Seventh month of the Gregorian Calendar
Has 31 days - My beloved father was born on 1st July.
- Jul 4 : Independence Day in the US
- Jul 7 : Students’ protest that was brutally crushed
- Jul 8 : Demolition of the Rangoon University Student’s Union
- Jul 19 : Arzani Nay အာဇာနည်နေ့
- Apollo 11 landed in Tranquility Bay on the Moon in July 1969. Neil Armstrong (Mission Commander) and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin (Lunar Module Pilot) stepped on the Moon. They set up the US Flag. They collected lunar rock samples. Michael Collins (Command Module Pilot) circled around the Moon and waited for the return of the Lunar Module.
- My poem “Men on the Moon” was forwarded by Mr. Hall (USIS) to NASA.
- The poem was published in the Guardian Daily.
Dark day in July 1947
Nine Arzanees — seven Ministers, one Secretary and a body guard — were gunned down on July 19, 1947. Eight perished that day. Sao San Htun succumbed a day later.
- Bogyoke Aung San
- Thakin Mya
- Deedoke U Ba Cho (Grandfather of Dr. Khin Hla Cho & Daw Khin Myint Cho)
- Mahn Ba Khine (Father of Sayama Daw Myint Myint Khine)
- Mong Pawn Sawbwa Sao San Htun (passed away in the hospital on July 20, 1947)
- U Ba Win (Elder brother of Boyoke, Father of Dr. Sein Win)
- U Razak (Father of U Tin Myint & U Hla Kyi)
- ICS U Ohn Maung (father of Saya U Tin Maung Thein)
- Yebaw Maung Htwe
There are books & documentaries on the “unsolved mystery”.
Two dark days in July 1962
According to the newspapers, 17 died on July 7, 1962.
Ko Aung Khin, who was stuck by a stray bullet as he was returning home from Rangoon University Boat Club, was listed as the 17th victim.
The revered RU Student Union was demolished on July 8, 1962.
The celebration of the 7th July in the following year (1963) ended with the closure of Universities — with the exception of the Faculties of Medical and Engineering.
August
- Sixth month of the old Roman calendar
Had 30 days - Renamed August in honor of Emperor Augustus Caesar and was given an extra day.
- Eighth month of the Gregorian Calendar, and it has 31 days.
- 8-8-88 : start of a long struggle to restore Democracy in Myanmar
Anniversaries
There are several birthdays in my family.
Two sisters, my grand daughter, several cousins and I are August born.
In August 2016, Maurice Chee (M75) organized a birthday soon kwyay မွေးနေ့ ဆွမ်းကျွေး for me at the Dhammananda Vihara ဓမ္မာနန္ဒဝိဟာရ in Half Moon Bay, California. The sayas and alumni presented me an Appreciation award.
Sayadaw U Silanandabhivamsa passed away on August 13, 2005.
Three of my in-laws : Father-in-law, Mother-in-law & Brother-in-law passed away in August.
Daw Mu Mu Kin (spouse of Saya Allen Htay (C58)), U Myint Swe (EP74, NorCal RITAA) and U Thein Naing (Patrick, La Phet Yay Waing member) are also August born.
One of them hosts an August-born Birthday Party. In August 2018, U Patrick (Thein Naing) and Daw Mie Mie hosted a lunch gathering for the August born at Moss Beach Distillery. They also presented a book for us.
Is 8 lucky?
8-8-88 (August 8, 1988) and the following days mark the hope and then despair of the people longing for the end of the Adhamma Era.
Grapevine says that the event was inspired in part by numerologists who remembered the historic event (about Mingyi Yan Naung) in 888 Burmese Era and extrapolated the magic of No. 8 from three 8’s to four 8’s.
Most Chinese think that the number 8 is lucky. For example, Beijing Olympics was opened on 8-8-08 (August 8, 2008).
September
- Seventh month of the old calendar. “Sept” means Seven.
- Ninth month of the Gregorian calendar. It has 30 days.
- Crushed the hopes of Multi-party Democracy in 1988
- Occasionally : End of Burmese Buddhist Lent
October
- Eighth month of the old Roman calendar. “Oct” means Eight
- Tenth month of the Gregorian calendar. It has 31 days.
- Occasionally : End of Burmese Buddhist Lent (Thadinkyut သီတင်းကျွတ်)
- “Deepavali” or “Diwali” celebrations are also celebrated around October. It is known as the “Festival of Lights”.
- “Halloween” occurs every year on October 31 (i.e. the day before “All Saint’s Day” which falls on November 1). It is celebrated with “Trick or Treat” by the children and optional “Halloween Costume Party” by young & old adults.
- Due to differences in the calendars, the Bolshevik Revolution is wrongly referred to as the “October Revolution”.
- Ocktoberfest is a festival held in October.
- The Annual Pumpkin Festival with the bragging rights to the “heaviest” Pumpkin is held along Highway 92 in Half Moon Bay in Northern California. The traffic is really bad in the area for most of October. The 7-mile strip takes an hour or more during the Festival period.
- Sayagyi Dr. Aung Gyi’s birthday is October 1.
- Sayagyi U Ba Than offers soon dana for his birthday on October 2. Sayas, former students and friends are invited to the soon kway. The Class of 69 usually offers Garawa at Sayagyi’s place (Winner Inn).
November
- Ninth month of the old Roman calendar. “Nov” means nine.
- Eleventh month of the Gregorian calendar. It has 30 days.
- Anniversary of my beloved parents
- Tazaundaing often fall around November
- Kathein ကထိန် robe offering often take place in early November.
Must be held during one month following the Full Moon Day of Thadinkyut (which usually falls in October).
- November 1st is “All Saints Day”. Preceded by Halloween (which falls on October 31st).
- DST (Daylight Savings Time) requires resetting the clock according to “Spring forward. Fall back.” Currently, DST is set back in Fall (Autumn) on the Sunday following Halloween.
- The second Tuesday of November is scheduled for US Elections at the various levels. (a) The Presidential Elections occur every four years. (b) The mid-term elections occur every two years. The House of Representatives serve two year terms. (c) Senators serve six year terms. To ensure continuity in the Senate, the election of the Senators is staggered into three groups.
- Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday of November.
- Black Friday & Cyber Monday following Thanksgiving have massive sales. Some companies start their “Black Friday” early in November.
- Several English words (e.g. November, Black Friday) have lost their original meaning.
- November 11 is celebrated as Veterans Day in the USA.
- It is celebrated as Armistice Day in the UK and France.
- A hundred years ago, Truce was called between the Allied Forces and Germany.
- The Truce occurred at 11 AM, marking the event with three 11s.
- First World War officially ended a year later with the controversial Versailles Treaty.
- Elections in the US (Local races every year, House of Representatives every two years, One third of Senators every two years, President every four years)
- Nov 22 : JFK assassinated (Conspiracy Theory survives)
- Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the US
December
- Tenth month of the old Roman Calendar. “Dec” means Ten.
- Twelfth & last month of the Gregorian Calendar. It has 31 days.
- U Thant Ah Yay Ah Khinn ဦးသန့်အရေးအခင်း dark day in the history of Burma
- Apollo 8 orbited the Moon in December 1968
- Dec 25 : Christmas
- Dec 31 : New Year’s Eve
Holidays
Some holidays
- have fixed date
- have relative dates
- are designated as Public holidays
- are religious
Some holy days are preceded by some fun events.
- Halloween (October 31) precedes “All Saints Day” (November 1).
- “Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday”) falls on the day before “Ash Wednesday” signifying the start of the Lent.
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